Tom Harris, also known as The Hill Country Gardener, is a Master Gardener certified by the State of Texas, a Master Pruner certified by the San Antonio Botanical Garden, and a founder and volunteer for the Gardening Volunteers of South Texas (GVST).

Note: This is an mySA.com City Brights Blog. These blogs are not written or edited by mySA or the San Antonio Express-News. The authors are solely responsible for the content.

My Apologies

Last Tuesday, my wife and I got out of town for 4 day. When we got back, I had about 400 emails waiting for me. I started deleting them very quickly and then noticed that I had accidently deleted 5-6 requests for the vegetable list. So, if you requested a veggie list and haven’t received it yet, please write again. Please accept my sincere apologies for this oversight.

Hummers

Watch for ruby-throated, rufous, and black throat hummingbirds as they make their way south. Place hummingbird feeders near a window so you can observe them. Favorite hummingbird bushes include firebush, lantana, pentas, hibiscus, and cape honeysuckle.

Keep fresh sugar-water in the feeders…one part sugar, 4 parts water. No coloring is necessary. Stir until the sugar is completely disolved. Change the mixture weekly. Place any old sugar-water in saucers for the butterflies.

Annual Flowers

Flowering annuals can be transplanted now: alyssum, calendula, dianthus (pinks), flowering cabbage and kale, pansies, petunias, phlox, Shasta daisies, snapdragons, and stock. If temperatures remain unseasonably hot, gardeners would be well advised to wait until October to transplant most of these cool season flowering plants. Keep the soil moist to ensure proper germination and growth. Protect seedlings from pillbugs with baits and insecticide (Sevin) dust barriers for two weeks after germination occurs

Continue to feed patio plants and hanging baskets with a water-soluble fertilizer such as 20-20-20 or Hasta-Gro.

If you order bulbs for spring, now is the time to order them. Put them in a paper bag in the fridge crisper (not the freezer) 6-8 weeks before planting.

Re-doing the Yard

Fall (when it cools off a little) is the absolute best time to consider re-doing your yard. The first thing you have to consider before turning the first shovelful, though, is planning. How much of what’s already there do you really want to keep? Mature shade trees should usually be saved. Mature shrubs that still have good form and that make good contributions to their surroundings probably should also stay. You can do the design work yourself if you have a knowledge of plants and a feeling for what looks good together. The paperback book, “Best of Texas Landscape Guide” will certainly help. It’s available at most nurseries. However, if you don’t feel up to the planning part, look for professional help.

Clean-up and Composting

If you’re like me and cleaning out all the dead stuff around the yard, pruning a little, and generally cleaning up the yard and various beds, your yard-waste-pile is starting to grow. What you have to do now is start thinking about making compost out of it by shredding it and putting it into wire compost pens.

If you have a shredder, grind up all that stuff and start helping Mother Nature do her job of decomposing it. My shredder reduces yard waste 12:1; that is, for every 12 bushels of stuff I put into it, I’ll get 1 bushel out. That makes a big difference when it comes to working with the compost later on.

Remember, after you shred the stuff for the compost pile, start putting it in the wire pens and when you get about 6 inches in the pen, wet it down really good so that it’s moist all the way through. Keep adding 6-inch layers and wetting them until the pen is full and then round off the top.

In about 3-4 days it should start to heat up to the point that you can’t hold your hand in the middle of the pile about a foot down–it’s too hot. That’s good. It’s “cooking.” This cooking process kills disease-causing organisms and weeds seeds and generally sterilizes the compost.

After about 10-14 days, the pile will start to cool down–you can feel it if you stick your hand in it or you can test it with a thermometer. Remove the pen and set it beside the compost pile and then turn the compost into it again; start by putting the outside layer of the pile into the pen first. Finish by putting the center of the pile in last. Be sure to wet the pile again because the microbes need the moisture to do their thing.

Veggie List with Planting Dates

The fall planting dates for veggies are already upon us.

Evidently there are quite a few folks who want to have some fall veggies this year; the offer of the veggie list for spring and fall gardening still stands. I’ve received well over 100 requests for the list in the last few weeks. It’s free of charge if you want one. Just write me at gardener@gvtc.com and I’ll send it right out to you.

This list was developed over a long period of time (several years) by the folks at the AgriLIFE Extension Office. The list applies all over the state of Texas but the planting dates vary depending on your location in the state. The dates on the list I currently have are for San Antonio and the surrounding area, but I also have a separate list for the Kerrville and other Hill Country areas.

Send your comments and/or questions to gardener@gvtc.com or see the website at www.thehillcountrygardener.com.